


Pretzel

by Pennyplainknits



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M, Yoga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-17
Updated: 2010-01-17
Packaged: 2017-10-06 09:25:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pennyplainknits/pseuds/Pennyplainknits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney keeps disappearing.  John is worried.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pretzel

"Hey Rodney"

John leaned over the laptop, trying to read Rodney's equations upside down. Rodney flapped a hand at him but didn't look up from the screen.

"You want to maybe watch a movie tonight?" John asked.

Rodney flicked his eyes up to John and back down quickly.

"Can't tonight, I've got a lot of work to do on this"

"Aw c'mon" John wheedled. He'd hardly seen Rodney at all yesterday and he'd been looking forward to the movie. They'd suddenly become a lot more fun now that he and Rodney generally ended up naked and sticky by the time the credits rolled.

"Zelenka and I are this close to solving our plastics problem. Tomorrow?" Rodney asked, meeting John's eyes hopefully.

"Ok, tomorrow" John agreed. Rodney looked around the lab quickly and brushed his fingers over John's. John felt he heat from the contact spread up his arm as he turned his hand over, trailing his fingers over Rodney's palm before drawing his hand away.

"I'll be there" Rodney promised.

 

True to form, by halfway into the movie they were naked and John was coming, panting and shuddering, with Rodney's perfect hands on him and Rodney's teeth set into the shell of his ear.

"You are ruining movies for me, John." Rodney growled into his ear, "I'll never be able to watch this movie in company again."

John just sniggered, twisting his hips and nipping and Rodney's jaw as Rodney groaned and came too, hot and messy against John's hip bone.

Later, squeezed onto the not-quite-a-double bed John spooned up behind Rodney and tucked his nose into the nape of his neck.

"So tell me about this plastics problem" he said, and drifted off the sleep to the music of Rodney's excited explanation.

 

For a few days things were what passed for normal in Pegasus. They went on missions, relied more than usual on Teyla's diplomatic skills and discovered that the Invar plant on MX2 201 bought Ronon out in some truly impressive hives.

After they'd left Ronon to be covered in calamine lotion by a giggling Dr. Keller John followed Rodney out of the infirmary.

"I'll be round in about 2 hours," he said, bumping Rodney's shoulder.

"Um" Rodney looked shifty. "Actually, I'm still really busy with the plastics recycler, can we just not tonight? Ok?"

John frowned "I thought that was sorted?" He said slowly.

"Nearly, I just need to tweak a few things. Look I'll see you for breakfast, alright?" Rodney hurried, leaving John standing alone in the corridor.

John hated the tiny part of him that wondered whether Rodney really did have to work on the big plant they'd found deep in the heart of the city. It was exciting (if you were Rodney), talking all kinds of plastics and turning them into building materials, fibres and cloth. But then, show Rodney an engineering problem and he'd frequently forget to eat, let alone anything else. Shaking his head at his own suspicions, John sloped off to the mess, telling himself not to be an idiot.

Except that it _kept_ happening. 2 or 3 times a week Rodney disappeared during their downtime, or put him off of an evening. They'd practically lived in each other's pockets even before they started sleeping together, so John found it especially jarring when he worked out, a few weeks after Ronon's hives had healed, that he hadn't woken up next to Rodney in 3 days. It was time for drastic measures.

"Hey buddy". He slid opposite Rodney at breakfast and watched him spoon up his oatmeal.

"Listen" he broke off "I-"

Rodney smiled slightly and waved his spoon;

"Go on."

"If there was, you know, a problem. You'd tell me, right?"

"What, with the city?"

John just glared until realisation hit.

"Ohhh. There's no problem. Why, do you think there's a problem? Oh my god I knew it was too good to last. Can we not do this here? At least let me keep some of my dignity."

Rodney waved his hands agitatedly and it was all John could do not the grab them and pin them to the table. He settled for hooking his foot round Rodney's ankle, quieting him instantly.

"Hey, there's no problem. Just haven't seen you much lately" He ran his booted foot up Rodney's calf, feeling the suppressed shiver.

"I know, I've been busy. I can, I mean, I've got some time tonight, but late. I've something I need to do first."

"I could come and keep you company?" John suggested. He liked hanging out in the labs, and watching Rodney at work was always fun, especially now he knew what it was like to be the focus of that staggering mind and those gentle, dexterous hands.

"No!" said Rodney sharply. Then, more gently:

"It really would be extremely boring and a waste of your time." He detangled his foot from John's and stood, picking up his tray with his oatmeal still half-finished.

"I've got to go; I'll see you later."

John watched him all but run out of the mess, stopping to exchange a word and a smile with a new member of the science team. She was slim and blonde and John had a sudden, irrational twinge of jealousy. Surely Rodney wouldn't cheat on him? Although they were pretty discreet and John was sure most people couldn't give a damn they still technically had to keep it a secret. Maybe the stress of that was getting to Rodney. If he was with a woman or someone not American he wouldn't need to worry. They wouldn't need the coded conversation, the checks on the lifesigns detector before leaving of a morning, the spike in tension every time someone from Earth was on base. Rodney could-

"John?" Teyla's quiet voice broke into his gloomy thoughts as she sat down. "I have been calling you for some minutes. Is everything quite alright?"

"I don't know," he admitted.

"Teyla, you know about me and Rodney, right?"

"It is most apparent to those of us that know you well. Have you faced opposition?" The look in her eyes promised a stick-whacking to all opponents.

"No, no! I mean technically the military _can't_ know, and the scientists are full of the fear of Rodney. It's just that I haven't been spending much time with him and I wondered…" he trailed off, unwilling to voice his thoughts.

"You wondered if his gaze was drawn elsewhere?" Teyla patted his hand. "Do not worry; I recently had proof that he holds you very dear."

"Yeah" John drawled, but he still wasn't convinced.

He went early to Rodney's that night, after a day spent trying to convince himself he wasn't being an irrational idiot, and not succeeding. Lorne had kicked him out of his own office with instructions to

"For god's sake sort it out with McKay" before closing and locking the door behind him.

He tapped his radio.

"Rodney"

"30 minutes Sheppard, I'm a bit busy." Rodney sounded out of breath.

Stamping down the thought that _oh god someone's in there with him_ John said:

"Rodney, you're in your quarters and I'm outside the door. I've spent 40 minutes alone with you in the last 3 days and I'm coming in!" Without waiting for a reply he thought the door open silently and stepped quietly into the room.

Whatever he'd been expecting it wasn't this. There was a rush mat in the centre of the living space. On the mat was Rodney, one leg stretched out in front of him, the other bent at the knee so his foot rested in the crease between thigh and groin. He was leaning forward, grasping his upturned foot with both hands.

John took a moment to admire the breadth of his shoulders, the strong muscles of his back, the nape of his neck slightly damp with sweat, then said:

"Yoga?"

Rodney jumped and twisted round to look at him.

"John! I said 30 minutes." He shifted position, tucking up the other foot and stretching to grab the opposite toes.

"I've been going crazy thinking you're seeing someone else and you've been giving me the brush-off for _yoga_?" John couldn't get past the surprise. Rodney and unforced exercise just didn't match.

"Listen, I can explain." Rodney got easily to his feet, locking his fingers together and stretching his hands above his head. He looked-good. The exercise leant colour to his skin and made his eyes even bluer. He wore an old grey t-shirt, washed thin. It stretched tight across his shoulders, reminding John that from the very beginning he'd loved the fact that Rodney was strong enough to pin him down. He even had the proper pants, light grey linen that, when Rodney turned to flip open his laptop, clung closely and lovingly to what John was convinced was the best ass in the galaxy, maybe 2 galaxies.

"Hey, I think it's great that you're exercising" he said, coming up behind Rodney and leaning in for a kiss, smelling clean sweat. "I just don't know why it was a secret."

"It was a surprise for you." Rodney said quietly.

"Huh?"

"I mean" he gestured helplessly. "You're all, your hips, all slinky, all bendy. I swear you're part cat! And then when you saw those scans of Yves' and you _recognised_... I got Teyla to teach me some stretches and I thought maybe…"

His voice trailed off and suddenly John remembered the scans in question.

"The Karma Sutra? The French one? Is that what you're talking about?"

Yves Devereaux, one of the French scientists, had come on his 6-month rotation with a very special parting gift from his boyfriend. Atlantis being Atlantis, scans of the entire book had ended up on the server in a matter of days, complete with highlights and notes that proved that Yves's partner not only had a fertile imagination, but whas clearly an innovator when it came to strawberry syrup.

"Yes, remember you saw them and you had that smile, like you were remembering, and I thought maybe we could, um. Try some out? Together?" He waved a hand at the scans on the screen.

John smiled slowly, relieved and touched.

"Well I don't know Rodney, that was a long time ago. I'm not as flexible as I was. I wouldn't want to sprain anything."

"What? Oh very funny." Rodney swatted John with the flat of his hand, then slid both arms round him.

"I have spent hours twisting myself into a pretzel for you and I intend to reap the benefits."

"mmmm pretzel?" Asked John, kissing down the side of Rodney's throat and nosing at the collar of his t-shirt.

"Pretzel" Rodney agreed, his hands warm on John as he stripped his shirt up and off. John kissed him again, running his hands down Rodney's damp back and into the waistband of the loose pants. He cupped Rodney's ass and pulled him close, feeling him hard against him.

"Well then Dr. Pretzel" he whispered, making Rodney quiver, "let's see what we can do."

Later, when they had finally made it, exhausted and sore in the best possible way, into Rodney's bed, John lay with his head on Rodney's chest, listening to the steady thump.

"y'know, I was thinking" he began.

"mmm, what?" Asked Rodney drowsily, his fingers scratching through John's hair.

"If I took up yoga as well, I reckon we might be able to pull off the tree."

Rodney chuckled quietly.

"You have the best ideas."

And, around a month after _that_, one leg bent back onto his chest, the other high in the air and Rodney sliding slowly into him, filling every atom with pleasure, John had to agree that he really, really did.


End file.
